Effect of metformin on the improvement of prostate cancer in diabetic rats

This study was designed to investigate the effect of metformin on the improvement of prostate cancer in diabetic rats. A total of 20 Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were equally divided into control and intervention groups. The intervention group received intragastric metformin 200 mg/kg, while the control group was given intragastric drinking water for 4 weeks. Tumor volumes were compared, all tumor specimens underwent routine pathological examination, immunohistochemical detection of E-cadherin and N-cadherin, and western blot assay. The tumor volume of control and intervention group was 462.15 ± 45.67 and 23.46 ± 5.32 mm³, respectively. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining showed partial visible glandular structure with deepened nuclear staining in the intervention group. Immunohistochemistry showed high expression (6.5 ± 0.28 vs 3.8 ± 0.26, P < 0.05) of E-cadherin and low expression (3.4 ± 0.12 vs 7.8 ± 0.34, P < 0.05) of N-cadherin in the intervention group. Western blot assay showed higher expression of E-cadherin, while low N-cadherin in the intervention group. Metformin can effectively alleviate lesion extent of prostate cancer and mechanism may be related to upregulation of E-cadherin and downregulation of N-cadherin expression.